empsfm and Gehry, too

Magnet #809 - Gehry's empsfm

Right? Who knows that that stands for? Like at all. Yep, would have reco'd a combined name for them right off the bat.

But, it looks like they make it work - at least on their site, and in this really good line of webcopy:

EMP|SFM is the place where music meets science fiction. Learn about two popular passions through state-of-the-art exhibitions and hands-on interactives—all under one architecturally amazing roof!

I suppose then, that the building itself is a metastatement (metamash-up?) for the Experimental Music Project Science Fiction Museum.

I visited Seattle a few months before the building was built, and then last December, got to visit...the building. Time didn't permit actually going into either the music or sci-fi exhibit space, though funnily enough, there was enough time for me to mill around the gift shock...and to run around the building itself, taking some of the pics in this album.

Huh.

I tend to like Frank Gehry's work. But this one, I think was just too far out there for me. I loved certain parts of it - all the shiny undulating curves of it - the stuff reminiscent of Bilbao Guggenheim and the Disney complex in LA. It's all that shiny stainless steel and painted aluminum that I love. But, I can't stand the mirrory purple part of the buildings and the red and blue sections, too.

Gehry supposedly meant the different materials to symbolize the fluidity and different kinds of music...so in the end, I guess it's no surprise I didn't dig it, given my own vanilla tastes in Duran Duran music.

The agony and the ecstasy

Magnet #737 - Michelangelo's Creation of Adam

One of the greatest works of art in the world is the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, painted by Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni in the early 1500s. It spans about 5,000 square feet (!!!!), was painted during the course of four years, and mostly tells the story of the Book of Genesis.

This magnet that I picked up at the Seattle Art Museum a few months ago - it's the Creation of Adam, a small part of the many, many, many paintings on the chapel's ceiling. It depicts God on the wings of angels, giving the breath of life to Adam, through their outstretched fingers. A powerful subject, with exquisite detail. In my estimation, it's kind of a shame that it's on a ceiling, where you can't see it up close...or spend hours on your back examining the piece.

The Vatican Museums put together a pretty good virtual tour of the chapel, though, and it's quite amazing the amount of work that's gone into this chapel. The chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who was pope in the late 1400s and founded this chapel and brought together great artists of the time.

I haven't been, but the frescoes alone should be enough to visit. I do have a dim memory of when I was little and being forced by my dad to watch The Agony and the Ecstasy, yet another Charlton Heston movie, this time as Michelangelo and the story behind creating one of his most definitive works. Oh! And there's this Eyewitness to History account of someone who spent time with him, and eventually wrote his biography in the 1500s.

Michelangelo didn't really want the commission for a few reasons, but one was because he didn't really consider himself a painter. He considered himself primarily a sculptor. I've been lucky enough to see some of those other great works. Our trip to Italy saw to that - don't worry, there's a magnet for that. I just love that not even two weeks later, I was in Seattle, getting to see a dozen original Michelangelo sketches and other papers on exhibit.

Fantastic exhibit, that was. The deal is that in the whole U.S., there's not even a dozen of Michelangelo's original works. But in Seattle, for the Michelangelo: Public and Private exhibition, they had a whole dozen, borrowed from Casa Buonarroti. Amazing. (Even though we totally should have hit up that museum while we were in Florence. Ack!)

They had what was supposedly the last letter he ever wrote, plus several sketches from his work on David and the Sistine Chapel. The deal with him was that he regularly destroyed his own sketches, because he didn't like for the public to see him as human, that is, that he would need to practice before his great genius was put into practice. But, his family managed to collect these drawings and studies and preserve them.

Despite all that - the glimpse into the man behind the genius - the studies he made, the original sketches he tried - I have to say, my absolute favorite part of the exhibit? They had a shopping list that Michelangelo put together for his servant. Except, because servants were generally illiterate, he had to draw the list. How fabulous is that?

So there's the list with the Italian word, and then little illustration. On the list was a cute little chicken, a cute little fish, a cute little loaf of bread. Can't you just see it?

Here's the list, just grab what you can at the ShopRite!

Except, you know...in Italian. So...

Ecco l'elenco, basta afferrare ciò che si può al ShopRite!

Take me to the fair

Magnet #717 - Young Elvis

Dang, am I behind! Things are crazy at work, and with 26 days left to go before we decamp to Tampa for the Transitions Championship, things are bound to get crazier. I better do a magnet photoshoot quick, cuz dat folder be tres slim pickin's.

I picked this magnet for right this second, because the new Transitions Optical spot, Serenity, just aired, and it reminded me of our Seattle trip.

And the deplorable fact that I was with a whole team of adults, none of whom knew my favorite Elvis movie, It Happened at the World's Fair, that took place at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair.

Like, seriously. How do you not know that movie? We were sitting at a restaurant underneath the monorail! The monorail that Elvis rode with little Sue-Lin to get to and from the fair! Down the street from the Seattle Space Needle! The Space Needle built specifically for the World's Fair! Good gravy.

One of my travelmates even said, wait, Elvis was...an actor????

*dies*

Where dreams come true...

Magnet #709 - ACRL Seattle

A librarian friend of mine brought this magnet back for me from a trade show/conference in CA, a couple of years ago. Funnily enough, it's one of the same friends who was down here in Orlando with us for SuperSoap Weekend a few years ago.

Now I'm back in town for a 3-day long client event, and am not participating any down time or character seeing while we're here at the Disney Yacht Club & Resort. It's actually kind of funny how I'm now back here for work.

Even funnier that in my head DisneyWorld has become more associated with ABC's soapstars than Disney's characters, but there you have it.

I'm kind of sad, because I'm fairly sure that this client thing will host no panel with hot boys from any of my previous soaps. All day long, I've been catching myself giggling whenever I pass anything that has to do with that last trip - from the bathroom where I got stuck waiting beside Trevor St. John for his family, to the hotel where they housed all the VIPs, and even seeing the fun ferries around the boardwalk.

Honestly, it's just so weird to be here and not see any people wearing soap star paraphernalia.

Oh, well. Time to get ready for the big kickoff party...that I'm fairly sure won't involve a parade of convertibles with pretty people waving, and women of all ages screaming their lungs off and stepping on my toes. Literally.

Though, I really need to speak to a weatherman about the weather. I haven't seen the sun once, and dang, it's freakin' cold down here. I'm really glad I didn't pack at all appropriately. Once again, it's because I missed Dave Price's weather. Sigh.

If I had a hammer...

Magnet #696 - Seattle Art Museum, Hammering Man

...I'd probably be as annoying as the neighbor downstairs who seems to be hammering in his bathroom at 3:07am.

Anyway, I picked this up at the Seattle Art Museum, after having spent a couple of hours at their Olympic Sculpture Park as well as the museum itself. Both venues were terrific - the sculpture park was fabulous, and the museum had two really great exhibits on Michelangelo and Calder. Such a great afternoon.

Just outside the museum, there's this sculpture of Jonathan Borofsky's 48-foot Hammering Man, who quietly hammers four times a minute during the day, taking a rest on Labor Day. Annnd, when I went to visit. He's in the shop now, having repairs done to the motor in his arm.

Speaking of rebuilding...remember when I last week about how Haiti fundraising would be a marathon, and how Red Cross would be my first stop to address the immediate future?

Here's my next stop, a group to turn to for the near and far future. I follow Cameron Sinclair (@casinclair), founder and Chief Eternal Optimist (CEO) for architecture for humanity, a group that does community-led reconstruction & building - schools, housing and community structures. Since last week, the man has worked almost nonstop to rally his own org and partner orgs to help out Haiti reconstruction. afh is uniquely qualified to help out, as they've created much of the playbook post-Katrina, and they've already drafted this reconstruction plan.

It's following casinclair's Tweets as well as a few others that have put a perspective on the non-saving-the-world work "emergencies" I've dealt this past week. Their tireless drive to help out in any way they can is quite inspiring.

They make me want to pick up a hammer to help, though given my handygirl skillz, it's likely that I actually might be saving the world by not picking up a hammer, but the phone or laptop instead.

Gasp! It *does* exist!!!

Magnet #658 - Seattle's Mount Rainier

So, yesterday, we wrapped the Seattle leg of our commercial productions. A long day of shooting four principals against green screen, with this supercool swiveling light hazardy thing swinging around each of them. Then we shot extras walking through several scenarios. Very, very cool.

The giant green wall was like being on the set of Doctor Who. Minus David Tennant, of course. Though, I won't lie. Cute boys aplenty up in this city, and a lot were at our shoot yesterday. I'm just sayin'.

We've been so busy running around that the only free time I've had is really to run to Target (I know! Yay!) at like 8 in the morning. I've been up every day at 5, to make calls for the East Coast (I will never live on the West Coast for that reason.)

So I was lucky when one of my colleagues grabbed a set of very kitschy Seattle magnets for me. LOVE them. But I had to use this one first...

You know that commercial where Red and Yellow M&M are tip-toeing through the house, and they run into Santa Claus, and Red gasps and goes, "He does exist!" and falls over, and then Santa looks down, gasps and goes, "They do exist!"

Heh - that's how I feel about Mount Rainier.

When I was here several years ago for that cross-country train trip my friend and I did, we kept trying to see Mount Rainier. My friend drove some of the time, leaving me to stare out the window willing clouds and haze to get out of the way. So, I saw it several times, and even have pictures of it. Blurry, hazy, taken through the slightly smudgy back window of our rental. But I did see it.

My friend never believed that I saw it, and so it's been a running joke for the better part of a decade now.

So. Even though I saw it a decade ago, I've now seen it a few times over this last week in Tampa.

It does! It does exist!!!

Western motel

Magnet #657 - Hopper's Western Motel

I want to say that I bought this at the National Gallery in DC, during the Hopper exhibition a couple of years ago.

I do so love a good Hopper. He's known for putting people in everyday places and spaces, and still somehow making them stand out.

Western Motel, one of his most important pieces, is a perfect example. It's a lady sitting on a bed that's perfectly made, in a motel in an obviously desolate area of the US, with her bags packed, waiting by the window.

Where's she going? Who's meeting her? What's she thinking? Who's she looking at? Is that car hers? Is that her ride?

All that. From one painting. There's a story there, and an unanswered ending. Awesome.

I just picked her for today, because she's probably nice and warm sitting in the sunlight poking through her hotel window, with her supercute sleeveless dress. Me? I'm frozen, sitting here by my 7th story window, overlooking the monorail, here at the Hotel Andra. The thermostat's at 86, and I'm shivering uncontrollably. I know, I could complain, but I'd rather blog and then jump under the covers. Jeepers.

I will give Andra its due, though - it's a supercute hotel, with the nicest staff ever and the biggest rooms ever, all for the most unbelievably low rate ever.

Probably not lower than this chick's hotel, but still.

Pain something, alright

Magnet #655 - Pain matin

Pain matin. Or, at least, that's what I think this basket of French bread says - morning bread. Or, I suppose it could be just pain squiggle-squiggle.

I bought this magnet during our Zurich airport layover a couple of weeks ago. Mainly, because it reminded me of my dad, and what the Italy trip was going to entail, gastronomically.

One thing we always worry about whenever we travel, is where will my dad eat. I know. He's not five years old, but his eating habits are very particular. He eats only rice with his omnipresent banana, and then [insert seafood (cooked only the way he or mom makes it) here]. Usually fried, and with salt and pepper. No fancy trimmings, no fancy spices, just fry that sucker straight up.

So, when we travel, he ends up eating a lot of bread. A lot. Like seriously. Croissants, mostly. But, probably because that's the easiest thing you can get at any bakery. He'll take a good French bread, or Challah bread, too. But, it's always bread, water and coke, or coffee, in lieu of a meal he won't eat. I mean, we're talking about the guy, who, when we were in high school, had his own button on the McDonald's register to ring up his special order of the plain bread only - from those McStuffin's sandwiches they used to have!

The long airplane rides are what worries us most. If he doesn't have his "bound" - which roughly means his packed meal, then he's left with whatever they serve us on the airplane. Thank goodness that usually includes a roll of some sort. Which we all give to my dad, so that he has something to eat while the rest of us are chowing down on our odd mixed salads and warmish entree and funny desserts. (Though, man, the Camembert that Swiss Air served the last time around? I seriously thought there was a plot to poison all cheese-eaters on the plane. It was so filled with ammonia, I thought I was gonna die right on the spot.)

Of course, I suppose we were lucky that international flights still feed us. I just got off a very pathetic nonstop Delta flight from NY to Seattle, and it was one of the worst flights I'd ever been on. Aside from the brusque service, the $2 earphones, the $6 HBO movies, the stupid DishTV channels that I don't watch, and the crappy seats, I can't believe they make you pay for meals on a 7-hour flight.

I get that everything in the aviation industry is more expensive, but dang! (Although, tip to the wise, don't eat a Whopper meal before boarding - you'll still be tasting the onions 7 hours later. Ugh.)

But, the piece de resistance - and I suppose it's not Delta's fault that they transport rude-ass trendy couples - this Asian chick and her hoarder boyfriend (Dim Sum of All Things reference) who looked like Matthew Lillard abruptly asked me to move to another row, "so that they could spread out." What a jerk. I thought we'd gained a rapport, since I was kicking his ass in inflight trivia. But no. The second the seatbelt sign went off, he got up, and was like, "Would you move to that other row, so that we can spread out?" There was no excuse me on the way out of the row. There was no hi to start the request. And, what's more, there wasn't even a please.

What a pain, ADM in Seat 11F. For those of you keeping score.

What's funny is that he totally knew he was a total jerk about it, too, because he came back to me and apologized for the way he asked and offered to buy me a drink. I told him not to worry about it, *silently* jerk.

Anyway, that's fine. As long as you were comfortable in seats 11F, 11E, and 11D, don't worry about the rest of us poor schmoes.

Experience more

Magnet #654 - Washington State

I had a whole other magnet planned for today, the 68th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Then I read the actual story behind the magnet, and it felt weird to use a magnet about the RAF/European Theater and the U.S. Navy/Pacific Theater.

So, since I'm headed out to Seattle tonight, I figured I'd go ahead and use this Washington State magnet.

I've only been out there once, but it was only for a couple of days. And, though I'm going for work, maybe, just maybe I'll actually get to see Mount Rainier from afar this time. (Even though I totally saw it last time, my friend won't acknowledge that I saw it, even though I so totally did, albeit through the back of a rental car.)

I wonder, though, if apples are their state fruit, will they have good apple pie there. And ice cream.

Hmmm. Food for thought.



See what I did there? Yuk, yuk, yuk.